For more than 15 years, my family has owned and operated a small local business in Santa Clarita, with three locations serving residents throughout the community. One of those stores is located directly next Clarity Therapy Spa, the business that was recently the subject of a law enforcement search.
For months, something about that location had not seemed right. I didn’t know who to call or whether what I was observing was even significant. Then I had a conversation with a customer that changed the way I looked at what I had been seeing.
Santa Clarita Councilman Jason Gibbs stopped by my business. I told him what I had observed and expressed my concerns. He did not dismiss me or tell me I was imagining things. He asked questions. More importantly, he listened.
He didn’t ask for recognition. He simply took my concerns seriously and appeared willing to connect a local business owner with people who could determine whether there was a legitimate problem.
On Aug. 20, (law enforcement officers) served a search warrant at the address next door.
I do not know the full chain of events that led investigators to that address, and I will not claim credit for the Sheriff’s Department’s work. What I do know is that someone listened when I raised a concern. That person was Jason Gibbs. That may sound like a small thing. It isn’t.
Communities don’t function because every problem is immediately visible. They function because people pay attention, speak up and, most importantly, someone is willing to listen when they do.
As Councilman Gibbs now runs for Congress, voters will make their own judgments about his record and his qualifications. But I believe this experience is worth putting on the public record.
I am not writing this to claim that one conversation caused a law-enforcement investigation. I don’t know that, and I would not pretend to know it. I am writing because I saw something that concerned me, I spoke up, and a public official took the concern seriously rather than brushing it aside. Sometimes that’s where accountability begins.
Jerry Naber
Canyon Country
